Soar Little Bird
by darilyn
Summary: Kuroko is a hanyou bird youkai that can't fly and does not have a place to belong to. Akashi convinces him otherwise. "I . . . I want to fly. But I'm afraid of falling." "Then I just have to be there to catch you." AkaKuro Fantasy!AU fluff and cliché lines everywhere.


Deep in the Teiko forest, a feather winged youkai was trying hard to contain his tears. Kuroko Tetsuya, who had beautiful blue wings, clenched his jaw so that the tears would stop. He knew he was a disappointment: the black sheep of his kin. His wings, although beautiful and breathtaking, had too many downs that hindered him from flying normally like most of his peers. He was bullied on a daily basis. His peers jeered and sneered at him whenever he passed by.

He took it all in stride. He knew all that pettiness came from their distaste of his status. He was a hanyou, a breed of human and youkai combined. His mother died giving birth to him, and he still blamed himself to this day because of that. He took too much of her life energy. She wanted to give birth to this monster who did not even know how to control his massive chakra. He should've died when he was still in his mother's womb. She could have lived happily with his father. He was a mistake that they both made.

The tears fell one by one. He had endured this for far too long. He had forgotten his human grandmother's warm hugs. All he could feel now was the immense self-hatred. He was not sad, but he was not happy either. He was just frustrated. He wished he was someone else. He wished he was Aomine Daiki, strong, talented, and happy. He wished was Kise Ryouta, loved, praised, and beautiful. He wished he was Midorima Shintarou, confident, attentive, and never afraid of being judged. He wished he was Murasakibara Atsushi, brilliant without trying.

Instead of all of that, he was just a silly, little youkai, who couldn't even soar high in the sky like he was supposed to.

"Kuroko."

The pale youkai looked up, startled as a crimson winged youkai landed in front of him on the clearing. His blue eyes met Akashi Seijuurou's red ones. The redhead stared, his face unreadable as he made his way to Kuroko. He crouched and gently wiped away the tears. Kuroko looked away and hastily wiped it himself with his kimono, embarrassed of being caught as he turned slightly red.

"Akashi-sama, you're not supposed to be here."

Akashi sighed, "How was I supposed to train, knowing one of my subordinates is gone and crying in the forest?"

Kuroko reddened once more.

"Is this about your wings again?

The paler youkai turned away instantly, covering himself with his massive wings. Akashi would never understand. He was born as the best. Kuroko was pale in comparison to him. Akashi was brilliant and powerful. And him? He was just a stray hanyou that this group happened to pick up.

"Don't look away from me."

Kuroko disobeyed.

"You have an inexhaustible amount of chakra inside of you. Not many people have even half of that. You are not useless," Akashi pressed sternly.

The bluenet felt like laughing bitterly, "And that is the only thing I'm good for. I didn't even do anything to get it. I stole if from my mother."

There was not an answer. The tears came back, but Kuroko swallowed the lump on his throat and continued, "I'm going away. This is not my place. I don't belong here."

He stood up and walked pass his leader. He should have left long ago. He would have saved everyone the trouble.

"Don't run away from me," Akashi called out firmly. Kuroko stopped and gritted his teeth. Turning around, the words were at the tip of his tongue, ready to be thrown bitterly at Akashi. He stopped abruptly, stunned by the look on Akashi's face. The redhead looked sad, angry, and just . . . sad.

"Don't run away from me," he repeated softly. He took a step forward, and another, and another, until he was standing in front the bluenet.

"Tetsuya, you're important to me. Please stay."

For a brief second, Kuroko felt deep resentment towards Akashi because he looked so damn sincere.

"I want to stay, but I don't belong here."

Big bright red wings covered him in an instant. Before Kuroko could register the shock that Akashi–his strong, slight aloof leader–was doing something that was considered extremely affectionate, a warm bigger body crashed into his frail one, and he was smothered by Akashi's familiar scent.

"You belong here. Aomine, Kise, Murasakibara and even Midorima would agree with me," Akashi whispered, hugging Kuroko closer and tighter.

The tears broke out of their dam. Kuroko buried his face into his leader's face, sobbing softly as Akashi soothingly rubbed his back. Their wings were slightly intertwined. Kuroko did not why, but he felt so, so relieved. He was accepted. Akashi accepted him. He belonged somewhere.

He had a home.

"I . . . I want to fly. But I'm afraid of falling." He sounded like a kid even to his own ears. But at least he was telling the truth. He could handle the pain of falling, but he was afraid of everyone's judgment.

"Then I just have to be there to catch you."

He could hear the smile and sincerity in his leader's voice. Kuroko felt a bit better as he smiled and let out a small chuckle. He pulled away, but Akashi gripped his arms to keep him close.

"Akashi-sama?"

The redhead was smiling strangely and the butterflies were acting up again in his stomach, like how he always felt when the redhead was around.

"Tetsuya is also responsible for making me fall."

The pale youkai stared dubiously at his leader, "I am? But I never saw you fall." That's right. Akashi was the best flier ever there. There's no way he could make a silly mistake.

"No, no. Not that fall. This fall."

And with that, Akashi leaned in and captured his subordinate's lips.

* * *

END.

Basically, Akashi was saying that Kuroko is responsible for making him fall in love with him. Somebody spammed Drunkard and Technical Difficulties. Reviewing multiple times as somebody else is not going to make me happy. It makes me feel insulted.

Kuroko no Basket belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei.

Edited version is thanks to AokazuSei.


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